unit 14, session 2an unfaithful people receive love 2…them though they turned again and again to...

66 Date of My Bible Study: ______________________

2Unit 14, Session 2

An Unfaithful People Receive LoveSummary and Goal With great power, God delivered the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt, led them for forty years through the wilderness, and then finally enabled them to conquer the land of Canaan—filled with people mightier than themselves—so that they could live there. Though it seems most logical that people who had been the recipients of these great gifts would have endured in praise of the One who gave them, sin never follows logic. The hearts of the people turned away from their faithful God and went to pursue others gods, other nations, other created things. By His grace, God endured Israel leaning on their idols, which inevitably collapsed beneath them, and invited them to turn and run back to His loving embrace.

Session Outline1. God’s love remains steadfast toward His unfaithful people (Hos. 2:16-23). 2. God’s love pursues His unfaithful people and purchases them out of slavery

(Hos. 3:1-5).3. God’s love invites His unfaithful people to repent (Hos. 14:1-4).Background Passage: Hosea

Session in a SentenceGod faithfully loves His people even when His people are unfaithful and fail to love Him.

Christ ConnectionHosea’s relationship with Gomer reminds us of God’s relationship with the people of Israel and with us. Even though God’s people are unfaithful and love many other things more than Him, God still loves us. It was because of God’s love that He sent Jesus to die on the cross for our sin and bring us back to Him.

Missional ApplicationBecause God loves us even though we are unlovable people, we tell others the good news about our amazing God, who pursued us at great cost to Himself.

© 2019 LifeWay Christian Resources

67Unit 14, Session 2

GROUP MEMBER CONTENT

Group Time

Introduction

EXPLAIN: Use the paragraph in the DDG (p. 57) to lay out the pattern of many fairy-tale relationships.

In most fairy tales, there are two main characters: a lovely princess and a handsome prince. The prince goes out to seek this princess, primarily for her beauty but sometimes also for her talents and magical powers. And it is a good thing he goes after her—because she is always in need of rescue. Every great princess finds herself captured by someone evil and powerful, and only a heroic and courageous man can set her free.

INTERACT: Ask group members the following question.

What are some fairy-tale stories or movies that fit this pattern? (be prepared to give an answer of your own to jump-start the conversation)

EXPLAIN: Comment on how the fairy-tale formula compares and contrasts with the love story revealed in the Book of Hosea.

• Compares: The Book of Hosea includes a heroic and courageous man who sets his princess free from her evil captors.

• Contrasts: Hosea’s story differs from the fairy-tale formula because Gomer, Hosea’s “princess,” is not desirable. No words describe her beauty, talents, or gifts. Instead, Gomer was a “woman of promiscuity.” Though Hosea was faithful to her, she was not faithful to him. Through their marriage, God was going to show His people what they were like in their relationship with Him.

SUMMARIZE: In this session, we will look at the prophet Hosea’s relationship with Gomer. The people of Israel were like Gomer, an adulterous people who had been casting off their intimate covenant with God to pursue all sorts of idols. But thankfully in this true story, God revealed the greatest hope: He is the greater Hosea. He is the husband who will not give up on His bride. He would pursue her and do everything necessary to restore her to the marriage covenant. The gospel, our true fairy-tale story, reveals that the beautiful, powerful, and holy King of all creation comes to rescue us, an adulterous people who do not deserve such grace.

For session-by-session training videos, please visit MinistryGrid.com/GospelProject. For additional teaching options and other resources, please visit GospelProject.com/additional-resources.


68 Leader Guide

Point 1: God’s love remains steadfast toward His unfaithful people (Hos. 2:16-23).

READ Hosea 2:16-23 (DDG p. 58).

16 In that day—this is the Lord’s declaration —you will call me, “My husband,” and no longer call me, “My Baal.” 17 For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth; they will no longer be remembered by their names. 18 On that day I will make a covenant for them with the wild animals, the birds of the sky, and the creatures that crawl on the ground. I will shatter bow, sword, and weapons of war in the land and will enable the people to rest securely. 19 I will take you to be my wife forever. I will take you to be my wife in righteousness, justice, love, and compassion. 20 I will take you to be my wife in faithfulness, and you will know the Lord. 21 On that day I will respond—this is the Lord’s declaration. I will respond to the sky, and it will respond to the earth. 22 The earth will respond to the grain, the new wine, and the fresh oil, and they will respond to Jezreel. 23 I will sow her in the land for myself, and I will have compassion on Lo-ruhamah; I will say to Lo-ammi: You are my people, and he will say, “You are my God.”

EXPLAIN: Use the first paragraph in the DDG (p. 58) to explain the backstory of how God used Hosea’s marriage to Gomer to portray His love for His people. Connect this relationship to the marriage between Christ and the church realized in the gospel.

The Lord called the prophet Hosea to act out through his life and marriage a picture of God and Israel. So Hosea sought out Gomer, a woman of promiscuity, and married her, made his home with her, and bore children with her (1:1–2:1). God wanted Israel to see that He didn’t just call them to be His people because He wanted servants who obeyed out of rigid duty; He called them as a wife to draw near to Him in love.

• Gomer was not sought out to be a maid, a personal assistant, or simply a companion; she was not a servant to be tolerated. Hosea made her his wife to be loved, known, and cherished. So too was the nation of Israel as the Lord redeemed her from slavery in Egypt as His covenant people.

• Gospel: We as God’s people, as God’s church, are to be wedded to Jesus (Eph. 5:22-33). We are to be known, loved, cherished, and drawn in with great intimacy in our relationship. Christ did not die and rise to make us hardhearted soldiers who bow our knees but steel our hearts. He went to the greatest lengths and paid every price and bought us out of slavery to sin so that we, the church, would draw near with delight and call Him husband.

Commentary: Christ has come to make us brothers, friends, servants, and ambassadors, yes. But the pages of Revelation testify, alongside Hosea, that Christ has come for a bride (see Rev. 19). This may feel and sound a little weird, especially for men. We should keep in mind that the emphasis is not on a physical, sexual relationship but on the oneness exemplified between a husband and wife. Plus, the analogy is communal, not individual. The church is the bride of Christ, not individual Christians.



EXPLAIN: Use the second paragraph in the DDG (p. 58) to fill in the story that led to God’s words in 2:16-23. Connect God’s plans for Israel, to be pictured in Hosea’s marriage, with the purpose of the gospel: to cleanse a people for Christ to be His pure, holy bride.

Hosea’s marriage was far from perfect. In fact, sometime after marrying and having three children, Gomer left Hosea and returned to her life of promiscuity, now adultery. But God would soon command Hosea to pursue Gomer once again. To prepare Hosea for this call, the Lord told him more about His love for His people and how He loved them though they turned again and again to other lovers, whoring after other gods. And one day, His love for His people would transform them into a faithful bride.

• In verses 19-20, God describes the way He will bring His idolatrous people back to Himself as follows: “I will take you to be my wife.” Three times He says this. This reference to betrothal refers to a man’s pursuit of a virgin maiden to wed. How could Israel be considered a pure virgin maiden after her idolatry? How could we?

• Gospel: This degree of purity is only possible if the sins we have committed in our spiritual adultery are fully forgiven and as good as forgotten—only if they are cast away as far as the east is from the west (Ps. 103:12; Isa. 43:25). The blood of Christ provides this forgiveness for us (1 John 1:7,9). When we stand before Christ at the marriage supper of the Lamb, we won’t be an adulterous bride clothed in a gown stained by our iniquity. Through the cross, Christ has made us clean by faith. We will be clothed in fine linen, white and clean—the spotless bride that He has purchased for Himself to make her righteous and what she does righteous (Rev. 19:7-8).


What are some ways God’s people today demonstrate unfaithfulness to God? (hypocritical in calling out the world for the same sins of which they are guilty; refusal to love their brothers and sisters in Christ; choosing to ignore Jesus’ command to make disciples of the nations; holding grudges against others instead of forgiving as they have been forgiven)


70 Leader Guide

Point 2: God’s love pursues His unfaithful people and purchases them out of slavery (Hos. 3:1-5).

READ Hosea 3:1-5 (DDG p. 59).

1 Then the Lord said to me, “Go again; show love to a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, just as the Lord loves the Israelites though they turn to other gods and love raisin cakes.”

2 So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and five bushels of barley. 3 I said to her, “You are to live with me many days. You must not be promiscuous or belong to any man, and I will act the same way toward you.”

4 For the Israelites must live many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred pillar, and without ephod or household idols. 5 Afterward, the people of Israel will return and seek the Lord their God and David their king. They will come with awe to the Lord and to his goodness in the last days.

EXPLAIN: Use the first paragraph in the DDG (p. 59) to emphasize what it took for Hosea to show love to Gomer in obedience to God’s command. Connect this to the God’s love for Israel and God’s love in the gospel.

God commanded Hosea to go to Gomer and show love to her. Gomer had run off to a lover, but it appears her status had sunk much lower. Hosea couldn’t just find Gomer and take her home because in her pursuit of other lovers, she had fallen to the status of a slave. The only way to get Gomer back was to purchase her. A cost had to be paid to redeem her from slavery, which resulted from her promiscuity, her sin. Hosea’s love for Gomer cost him something: he had to seek her out and pay the price for her freedom.

• Love is more than a feeling of affection. If Hosea’s love for Gomer were measured only by his feelings for her, then perhaps there would be nothing to show. But the kind of love that God has for His people, the kind of love He wanted demonstrated through Hosea, is a covenant love—a love rooted in a promise and guaranteed by a commitment to pay whatever cost is necessary for that love to continue.

• Again, God wanted Hosea’s pursuit of Gomer to reflect His pursuit of Israel. The love that God had for Israel was a love not merely felt but one that demanded to be shown. And the people would recognize His goodness to them.

• Gospel: We too were slaves when God came after us. In our pursuit of other lovers—other things that we thought would satisfy and give us pleasure and meaning—we were nothing more than slaves to sin. The price that God paid for us in Christ was much steeper than thirty shekels. Our slavery to sin was an infinite debt against an infinitely holy God; an infinite price had to be paid to ransom us out of such slavery. And with something much more costly than silver or gold, God paid for this bride (see 1 Pet. 1:18-19). The precious blood of Christ—of infinite worth and value—was the sole payment that could be accepted for so great a debt. As God told Hosea to go and love Gomer and pay whatever price was necessary to restore her to their covenant, God knew that one day He would do the same in Christ to reconcile His people to Himself.



FILL IN THE BLANKS: Provide group members with the answers for the call-out in their DDG (p. 59).

God Is Love: The imperfect love that human beings share between one

another is a dim reflection, a sign that points to the perfect love that resides

within God. The greatest act of love by God toward humans isn’t the giving

of earthly goods but the giving of Himself in Christ so that we might become

reconciled to Him.

Essential Doctrine “God Is Love”: To say that God is love is to say that God is the essence of love, or that perfect love both resides and resonates within God Himself—one God in three Persons. The imperfect love that human beings share between one another is a dim reflection, a sign that points to the perfect love that resides within God. The greatest act of love by God toward humans isn’t the giving of earthly goods but the giving of Himself in Christ so that we might become reconciled to Him.

EXPLAIN: Use the second paragraph in the DDG (p. 59) to connect Hosea’s desire to be Gomer’s sole affection with God’s desire for His people to worship Him only. Then explain the gospel connection.

Hosea restored Gomer as his wife, and he desired a holy covenant with her. He wanted all of her affection committed to him and him alone. He wanted her united to her husband and faithful to him so that she could be his and he hers. God had rescued and would rescue Israel once again out of their slavery for the same reason—not so they could live as they pleased but so they could finally be free to worship Him alone.

• When God sent Moses to lead His people out of their slavery in Egypt, Moses was to tell Pharaoh to let the people go so they could worship God (Ex. 7:16; 8:1). His heart for Israel was that they would be free to worship Him alone. Whether from physical slavery or spiritual slavery to idolatry and sin, God wanted His people free so they would be His people and He would be their God (Hos. 2:23).

• Gospel: We were in slavery to sin. We were serving a harsh master whose intent for us was death. But through Jesus, God paid the price and bought us out of slavery, not so that we could be free to do as we pleased and attempt to rule ourselves but so that we could be united to Him in a holy covenant. He desires all of our affection. He wants us committed to Him, and He promises to be committed to us. We have been bought for a price and with a great purpose—that we would praise our God who has set us free and joined us to His Son in an eternal marriage covenant.


What does the purchase price of Christ that God paid to redeem sinners reveal about His love for humanity? (God’s love is sacrificial; God takes the redemption of sinners personally; God will not fail to accomplish His plans to redeem and sanctify the bride of Christ, the church)


72 Leader Guide

Point 3: God’s love invites His unfaithful people to repent (Hos. 14:1-4).

READ: Ask a volunteer to read Hosea 14:1-4 (DDG p. 60).

1 Israel, return to the Lord your God, for you have stumbled in your iniquity. 2 Take words of repentance with you and return to the Lord. Say to him: “Forgive all our iniquity and accept what is good, so that we may repay you with praise from our lips. 3 Assyria will not save us, we will not ride on horses, and we will no longer proclaim, ‘Our gods!’ to the work of our hands. For the fatherless receives compassion in you.” 4 I will heal their apostasy; I will freely love them, for my anger will have turned from him.

EXPLAIN: Use the first paragraph in the DDG (p. 60) to highlight God’s initiative in calling Israel to repentance and what that repentance must look like: turning from idolatry and turning to God.

The Lord took the initiative in the repentance of Israel by calling on them to return to Him. All the words that He had spoken to Hosea and the actions Hosea had carried out were to show Israel that they were stumbling in their sin and needed to return to Him. To truly return to God, Israel had to do two things: 1) confess and turn away from the idols she had trusted in and 2) turn back to God with a heart full of trust. Amazingly, God invites sinners to repent and offers the promise of compassion, healing, love, and a turning of His anger.

Repentance must involve both turning from idolatry and turning to God. • 1) Turning from Idolatry: If Israel had simply tried to return to God while still holding on to her idols,

her worship would have remained divided; she would still be an adulterous wife to Him.

• 2) Turning to God: If Israel tried to turn away from idols without trusting in God, then her repentance would have been incomplete and short-lived. God does not want us merely to abstain from evil; He wants us to be in relationship with Him.

• There is no neutrality in our hearts; we will put our trust in and worship something: either God or our idols. Repentance must involve giving up idols and returning to God or else it is no repentance at all.

• Gospel: When we hear the gospel and grasp it in faith, our repentance is twofold. 1) We confess that our deceitful hearts were treasuring and trusting in false gods that could not save. 2) We turn to Jesus believing that He and He alone is the salvation that we need.

Voices from Church History“ O to grace how great a debtor Daily I’m constrained to be! Let Thy grace, Lord, like a fetter, Bind my wand’ring heart to Thee: Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, Prone to leave the God I love; Here’s my heart, Lord, take and seal it; Seal it for Thy courts above.” 1

–Robert Robinson (1735-1790)




What characteristics mark true repentance of sin? (a humble heart before God and others; agreement with God that something is sin; belief that the Lord responds favorably to repentance; a desire not to commit the sin again; repentance must be coupled with faith in Jesus; the Holy Spirit is working in him or her; must have a heart to worship the forgiving God)

EXPLAIN: Use the second paragraph in the DDG (p. 60) to emphasize that God did all that was necessary to bring His people Israel back to Himself. Connect this to God’s work in Christ in the gospel for believers to belong to Him.

It is important to notice that Gomer never initiated in their relationship; Hosea was the one who pursued. The only time we see Gomer initiate was when she ran off with other men. The only hope that Hosea and Gomer’s relationship would last was that Hosea would never give up on pursuing her. And so it is with God in His relationship with His people: God initiates, God pursues, God never gives up on His people, or there is no hope.

• Note God’s initiative in this passage: God called Israel to return. He would forgive. He would heal their apostasy. He would love them freely. He would turn His anger away. Without God’s initiative, without God’s promises of favorable response, Israel would remain in their slavery. Israel could only receive God’s relationship in repentance, and in response to this pursuit, they would worship their faithful Husband.

• Gospel: Our story is the same. God has called us sinners out of slavery to sin. And by faith in Jesus, God has forgiven us. God has healed our apostasy. God has loved us freely. God has turned His anger away from us. God has initiated everything and done all that is necessary to bring you to Himself. He offered up His only Son on the cross so that He could pursue you with all His goodness and love. What response can you give? Repent from your idols and turn to Jesus with a heart of faith and with a heart of worship to this faithful God who has called you and done all that is necessary to lead you to Him.


How does God’s work in our salvation attack our pride? (our salvation is God’s work through and through; we contribute nothing to our salvation, only receive it by grace through repentance and faith; God loved and pursued us while we were still sinners and opposed to Him; Jesus laid His life down for those who rejected His rightful authority as Creator)


74 Leader Guide

My Mission

EXPLAIN: The steadfast love of God never ceases. He will continue to pursue His people with His merciful, forgiving love. His is a love that removes pride, brings repentance, and causes hearts to worship. What happens to people who have experienced a love like this? They won’t be able to keep such a love to themselves. It is a love that works first on our own hearts and then flows out to others. Like Hosea, we will show mercy to the undeserving and offer forgiveness to the sinner; we will pursue the hardhearted and love the unlovely. By God’s grace, we will point others to Jesus and He will capture their hearts, just as He first captured ours.

READ the following missional application statement in the DDG (p. 61), and encourage group members to choose at least one of the options below as a way to respond to the truth of God’s Word.

Because God loves us even though we are unlovable people, we tell others the good news about our amazing God, who pursued us at great cost to Himself.

• What steps of faith will you take in response to God’s unending pursuit of sinner and saint?

• How can your group grow in encouraging full repentance in one another’s lives?

• How will you show God’s pursuing love in Christ to a “Gomer” in your life this week?

CLOSE IN PRAYER: Father, great is Your faithfulness and great is our unfaithfulness. Forgive us for our presumptuous idolatry and promiscuity. Thank You for Your steadfast love for us, a love that You have proven to us in sending Your Son, Jesus, to redeem us from our willful slavery. Help us to live in the love You have poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit as we seek to proclaim Your love to unlovable sinners like us. Amen.

PACK ITEM 8: OUR BRIDEGROOM: Cut out these bookmarks and pass them out to group members to remind them that Jesus redeemed His church with His precious blood.

INSTRUCT: As your group departs, encourage group members to read and respond to the Daily Study devotions in their DDG (pp. 62-64), which build and expand upon the group study. Also advocate for small groups or families to use Encourage One Another (p. 65) for mutual accountability and fellowship grounded upon the foundation of God’s Word.

Voices from the Church“ Jesus will join himself to an unfaithful wife—you and me—and make us his pure bride. He will go to the slave market of sin and buy us back at the cost of his own blood.” 2

–Nancy Guthrie



Daily Discipleship Throughout the week following the session, use the ideas below to remind and encourage your group members to live as disciples of Jesus Christ. The Daily Study devotions in the DDG (pp. 62-64) will help group members get into God’s Word and study it for themselves. Encourage One Another (p. 65) will help group members and families fellowship with one another with purpose.

Daily Study

Brief daily devotions in the DDG (pp. 62-64) will help group members take initiative in their own discipleship.

• Make sure all group members have access to a Bible to read. Have some Bibles available to give to guests who may need one, or offer to get one and arrange a time to meet to give it and show how to navigate it for the devotions.

• Share the following idea from the devotion for Day 2 as a part of point 1 in the session: Every single thing we have is from the Lord. Yet we regularly take all of these gifts and spend them on our own pleasures instead of offering them to God in worship.

Consider leading by example and reading the daily devotions yourself with your own DDG. Based on your study, use brief messages throughout the week (group text, email, social media) to encourage your group to keep up with their daily time in God’s Word and to live it out. Here are a couple of examples you can use:

• Day 1: “The sinful tendencies of our hearts will always cause us to drift away from worshiping God to worshiping created things.”

• Day 5: “Repentance isn’t just a one-time experience when we first turn to Jesus; it’s a daily action of confessing all the ways we forsake God and trust in idols.”

Visit www.GospelProject.com/Blog for additional content and resources you can use to help group members gain more insight into their daily studies. Send group members a link or a portion of a blog post or other content that you believe will be helpful and encouraging for their time in God’s Word.

Encourage One Another

This brief plan for fellowship and accountability in the group member’s DDG (p. 65) will help groups of 2-4 people to meet sometime during the week to reflect on the session and to share how God is working and they are responding. It could also be used for family discipleship with students and children who are using The Gospel Project in their groups.

• Encourage group members to consider ways they can love the people around them who would seem unlovable and undesirable by the world.

• See yourself as a member of the group who also needs encouragement in the faith, and participate in such a group this week.


76 Leader Guide

Additional Commentary

Point 1: God’s love remains steadfast toward His unfaithful people (Hos. 2:16-23).

“The restored relationship will mean that the woman will no longer call her husband my master, which in Hebrew is my ‘Baal,’ the title used for foreign gods (2:16,17). Instead she will lovingly refer to him as my husband. The climax of this section is the complete renewal of the covenant relationship as the Lord affirms: I will betroth you in faithfulness, and you will acknowledge the Lord (2:20). In Hosea’s day, a betrothal ceremony was far more binding than a mere engagement is today. It was the first step in marriage. Thus God is not simply taking back an errant wife, he is starting the marriage all over again. His betrothal gifts to his beloved include righteousness, justice, love, compassion and faithfulness (2:19-20). These characteristics will define their new relationship. They are the characteristics of God himself, and they are also the characteristics that he will instill in and expect from his people. The promised restoration will be holistic and complete, involving even the animals and the environment (2:18,21-23). In this way Hosea indicates that the ideal is for God’s people to live in right relationship with God, with each other, and with the environment. As with ancient Israel, our relationship with the Lord is restored not because of us, but first and foremost because of the grace of God.” 3

“The day of restoration will not be for Hosea’s generation. Instead, the remnant of the northern kingdom will return to its allegiance to Yahweh, and their exclusive marriage relationship will be restored. This time it will be a perfect union and will last forever. Yahweh will be husband, and it will be as if Baal had never existed. A covenant will be crafted with all of creation in mind. All wars will cease, and there will be peace under the protection of Yahweh. The names of Gomer’s children are reversed. Jezreel plants instead of using aggression and military might. ‘No compassion’ has compassion poured out on her, because now Israel is God’s people for all time.” 4

Point 2: God’s love pursues His unfaithful people and purchases them out of slavery (Hos. 3:1-5).

“God is not going to totally abandon his people. There will come a time when they will return and seek the Lord their God and David their king (3:5). God will remember the covenant he made with David and restore his people (2 Sam. 7:12-16). This reference to David also points to Jesus Christ, a descendant of David. The promise of restoration was partially fulfilled at his first coming. Its complete fulfillment will take place only in the last days, when the nation of Israel will acknowledge Christ as their Messiah. We are all sinners like Gomer [Rom. 3:23] … Thus we are all estranged from God. It is only through grace that he reaches out to us and pays the price to redeem us and bring us to himself. But the price he paid was far higher than the price Hosea paid for Gomer. Jesus Christ had to come into this world and give his life on the cross to enable each of us to be reconciled to the Lord. He had to shed his blood for our redemption.” 5



“Although the text does not name the adulteress (Hebrew na’aph), clearly the audience is expected to assume that the symbolism of Hosea’s marriage to Gomer continues here. Hosea is commanded, Go again (Hebrew ‘od, ‘still’), indicating repetition and return. The woman toward whom the prophet must show love (Hebrew, ’ahav, ‘do acts of love for, be loyal to, treat with affection and tenderness, prefer’) is identified both as an ‘adulteress’ and as a woman who is loved [Hebrew, ’ahav] by another man (Hebrew rea‘, ‘lover, companion, friend’; cp. Songs 5:16; Jer. 3:20). The Lord’s explanation for such a difficult instruction sustains the parallel He established between Hosea’s marriage to Gomer and His relationship with His people. Just as Gomer had given herself to the desires of ‘another man,’ Yahweh’s people were turning to other gods. That Hosea bought her indicates that whatever Gomer’s status, someone accepted the payment specified, which exceeded the price of a female slave (cp. Ex. 21:32; Lev. 27:4). She may have become a slave to pay an overwhelming debt. Perhaps her lover insisted on payment before allowing Hosea to take her home. In any case, the transaction gave Hosea the legal right to do with her as he pleased, even to put her to death for adultery. Yet his response was to take her again as his wife.” 6

Point 3: God’s love invites His unfaithful people to repent (Hos. 14:1-4).

“Take with you words means to know ahead of time what you will say. Hosea then gives the words of repentance and confession that the people should use before the Lord (vv. 2b-3). These verses are peppered with terms from the covenant that express God’s grace and the proper response of gratitude: take away all iniquity evokes Ex. 34:7 (‘forgiving’; cf. Ps. 32:5), while pay with bulls the vows of our lips probably describes peace offerings (cf. Ex. 24:5; Num. 7:88), in which the grateful worshiper enjoys a meal in God’s presence. This is what Israel can expect, if only they will return to the Lord. Also (Hos. 14:3), no longer will they place their trust in foreign princes (such as Assyria) or in implements of warfare (horses); neither will they worship handmade gods (cf. 13:3-4).” 7

“Throughout the book of Hosea … the prophet repeatedly stresses the fact that Israel is apostate (see 4:15-19; 5:3; 6:10-11; 9:10-17; 10:5-8; 11:2,7,12). Here, Yahweh promises to ‘heal’ their apostasy. This metaphor implies that apostasy is more than an act of the will, but is also a kind of mental derangement (or spiritual blindness) that God himself must cure. Here, too, is the paradox of Hosea. The book repeatedly calls upon the people to choose to turn back to Yahweh, but at the same time implies that they cannot turn back without a saving act from Yahweh.” 8

References1. Robert Robinson, “Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing,” in Baptist Hymnal (Nashville, TN: LifeWay Worship, 2008), 98.2. Nancy Guthrie, “How Could God Ask That?” The Gospel Coalition, July 28, 2011, https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/how-could-god-ask-that.3. Douglas Carew, “Hosea,” in Africa Bible Commentary, gen. ed. Tokunboh Adeyemo (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2006), 1042.4. Keren E. Morrell, “Hosea,” in The IVP Women’s Bible Commentary, eds. Catherine Clark Kroeger, Mary J. Evans, and Elizabeth Kroeger Elliot (Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 2011) [Wordsearch].5. Santosh Varghese, “Hosea,” in South Asia Bible Commentary, gen. ed. Brian Wintle (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2015), 1120.6. Lauren Johnson, ed., “Hosea,” in The Study Bible for Women (Nashville, TN: B&H, 2014), 1141-42, n. 3:1-3; n. 3:2.7. Robert I. Vasholz, “Hosea,” in ESV Study Bible (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2008), 1641-42, n. 14:2-3; n. 14:4.8. Duane A. Garrett, Hosea, Joel, vol. 19a in The New American Commentary (Nashville, TN: B&H, 2003) [Wordsearch].


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The Gospel Project®Adult Leader Guide CSBVolume 8, Number 1 Fall 2019

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The Gospel Project®: Adult Leader Guide CSB (ISSN 2163-0917; Item 005438061) is published quarterly by LifeWay Christian Resources, One LifeWay Plaza, Nashville, TN 37234, Thom S. Rainer, President. © 2019 LifeWay Christian Resources.

For ordering or inquiries, visit lifeway.com, or write LifeWay Resources Customer Service, One LifeWay Plaza, Nashville, TN 37234-0113. For bulk shipments mailed quarterly to one address, email [email protected], fax 615.251.5933, or write to the above address.

We believe that the Bible has God for its author; salvation for its end; and truth, without any mixture of error, for its matter and that all Scripture is totally true and trustworthy. To review LifeWay’s doctrinal guideline, please visit www.lifeway.com/doctrinalguideline.

All Scripture quotations are taken from the Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission.

Trevin WaxGeneral Editor—The Gospel Project Author of multiple books, including This Is Our Time: Everyday Myths in Light of the Gospel

The prophetic books of the Old Testament can be confusing, both to the newcomer to the Bible and the longtime reader. Where do these prophets fit in the overall narrative of Israel and Judah? What messages did they communicate? What was God doing in and through their work? The benefit of this volume of The Gospel Project is that it gives you a glimpse of the prophets right at the point their message was going forth to God’s people. We can ask questions of God with Habakkuk, look forward to the coming Suffering Servant with Isaiah, stand amazed at the stunning picture of relentless love in Hosea, and learn something of God’s extravagant love with Jonah.

As you work through the sessions in this volume, keep an eye on all the different ways God reveals Himself and communicates His messages of judgment and grace. Fall to your knees in awe, and then stand up and boldly proclaim the love of this great God, who inspired the prophets to deliver His word.

EDITOR

A Word from the Editor


unit 14, session 2an unfaithful people receive love 2…them though they turned again and again to...

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